


Ghouling It up at the Gala

by Metal_Chocobo



Series: Graduating Ghouls [2]
Category: Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated (TV 2010), Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, F/F, School Dances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-07 01:42:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11613291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metal_Chocobo/pseuds/Metal_Chocobo
Summary: Grimwood is preparing for its annual winter dance and all Elsa wants to do is ask Sibella to go with her. However, before she can work up the courage to ask, the dance funds are stolen. Can Elsa and the other club members of Mystery Science Theater find the money before the dance has to be cancelled?





	1. Chapter 1

“Uffda,” Elsa grunted when she ran aground against something that hadn’t been in her line of vision a moment ago. Looking down she spotted an oversized hairball in sunglasses. It gibbered at her. “Oh sorry, I didn’t see you down there.”

Wednesday Addams ran over and wrapped an arm around the hairball. “Cousin Howe, I told you not to run off! Sorry Elsa.”

“It’s okay,” Elsa laughed.

She watched Wednesday lead her relative back to her group of friends to one side of the school courtyard. A moment later she felt more than saw Sibella arrive at her side. Except for Professor Pericles, no one else generated the same gentle repeated gusts and he didn’t create the cracking of energy that always set Elsa’s hairs on end that Sibella did when she transformed from a bat into a human.

“Minor traffic collision?” Sibella asked.

“Yeah. Is it just me or are the freshmen getting smaller and smaller every year?”

“I think it’s you. After all, you keep growing and growing. What do you think you’ll top out at? 6’4”? 6’5”?”

“Around that.” Elsa shrugged, suddenly feeling self conscious about her height. If she was already nervous, she may as well go all out and finally ask Sibella the question she had been trying to work up the gumption to ask all weekend. “Say, are you planning to go to the winter dance next week?”

“Of course I am!” Sibella grinned. “Since the fall bash was cancelled, it’s the biggest event of the semester!”

“I was wondering…” Elsa trailed off, wondering if she could really ask Sibella if she’d be interested in attending with her. She’d been trying to ask her all weekend, but never got the proper chance, either due to a lack of privacy or cowardness on her part. Whether or not Sibella would be willing for them to attend together, it would seriously affect their friendship.

“Yes?” Sibella asked.

“I was wondering if you would like—”

“Listen up all you ghouls out there!” Ms. Dynamite, their vice principal, shouted, drawing all the students’ attention. “I’ve got some bad news to get off my chest. The funds for the winter dance were stolen on Friday. I spent the whole weekend scouring the building, but I can’t find any trace of them and the culprit ain’t talking.”

“That isn’t good,” Elsa said. Sibella nodded in agreement. The dance would be very Spartan without funds, but maybe they could still enjoy themselves. After all, it wasn’t the decorations that made the dance, but the ghouls.

“So it is with a heavy heart, sugars, that I have to cancel the dance,” Ms. Dynamite finished, which caused an outcry. “We can’t boogie down without music, decorations, food, and Major Calloway is demanding a rental fee for hosting this shindig, since our own gym is still flooded for underwater maneuvers.”

“Oh no,” Sibella cried, grabbing Elsa’s arm. Her fingernails dug into Elsa’s flesh, but the pain wasn’t half as bad as what she felt in her chest. She had just lost her chance to ask Sibella out. “Surely there’s something we can do!”

However, before Elsa could formulate her own protest, Ms. Dynamite apologized for getting the day off to a bad start and sent the ghouls to class. With a heavy heart Elsa plodded through her morning classes. She couldn’t focus on the lessons, instead trying to figure out what she could do for Sibella instead of the winter dance, since it wasn’t happening. By the time lunch rolled around she had the semblance of a plan.

After picking up her bowl of goulash from the cafeteria, Elsa headed outside to eat with her friends. Sibella, Winnie, Phantasma, and even Tanis were already settled under their favorite tree near the hedge dividing Grimwood from Calloway. Elsa dropped to the crabgrass just to Sibella’s left with her back to the hedge. Looking around the group she could see that everyone seemed pretty glum. Normally Winnie would have wolfed down her lunch by now, even if it was something as awful as fresh tomatoes; instead, she and everyone else seemed content poking their meals without actually talking or eating.

“I see everyone is still upset about the morning announcement,” Elsa said.

“I’m so mad I could howl,” Winnie snarled, but all that rage instantly drained away and she sighed, “but I’m too sad to work up the gumption.”

“Whoever took the dance funds is a real meanie,” Tanis announced. “I don’t like them and I’m going to tell my Mummy!”

“What I don’t understand is who would take the money?” Phantasma asked. “Everyone who knew about it was excited for the dance, which is saying something because even the Calloway cadets were looking forward to it. The mystery is enough to make my head spin!”

“Easy there,” Elsa said, catching her friend’s head before Phantasma could accidentally spin it off. The last time that had happened Phantasma’s head bounced until it landed a foot below a stone floor and it took ages to pull it out again.

“Speaking of Calloway, it looks like we’ve got some company,” Sibella said.

She pointed a finger over Elsa’s shoulder and when Elsa turned she could see a cadet had crawled through the hedge. Or to be more exact, had fallen through it and was now trying to brush leaves out of his hair. The disgruntled expression brightened considerably when he noticed the girls looking at him.

“Oh good, you’re right here!” he exclaimed, scrambling to his feet. He was kind of small with dark wavy hair. “Um, hello Elsa.”

“Hi,” Elsa said flatly. She vaguely wondered why this boy was singling her out from the group. Especially since they were already having a bad day.

“You remember me, right?” he asked. “I’m Miguel. We’ve worked together on a couple of interschool science projects, like building the radio tower and electrifying the moat.”

“I remember.” She remembered the projects, especially the moat’s improvements since it gave her a great charge during morning swim. If she really thought about it, there had been a cadet assisting her on the projects, but he hadn’t really registered, since the scaredy cat had no interest in being up on the tower during a thunderstorm.

“Great! Since we’ve got similar interests in science, would you like to go to the dance next week with me?” Miguel asked. “We could make some magic together.”

“No,” Elsa said flatly.

“Please, Elsa,” Miguel whined. “When I first saw you, it was like a bolt of lightening. Say you’ll come to the dance.”

“Not interested.”

For Elsa that was the end of the discussion. She turned her back to him and hastily spooned goulash into her mouth. If she ignored him long enough he’d finally get the message and go back through the hedge to Calloway. She was confident that she could outwait him, especially since she was surrounded by her friends and he was alone. Eventually, she heard the hedge rustle and Elsa had to grin. He had given up.

“Hey there, Sibella,” a different boy said. Elsa turned to glare at him, but it didn’t faze this cocky blond boy in the slightest. His attention was focused solely on Sibella. “How about you and me go to the winter dance together?”

“What is this, the parade of dance requests?” Winnie grumbled. “Are you boys too scared to ask a ghoul out without your pack at your back?”

“Ooo, I hope so,” Phantasma giggled. “I hope there’s a cute one waiting to ask me out.”

“What do you say?” he asked, ignoring the commentary. “We’d be the best looking couple at the ball.”

“That’s certainly a fangtastic offer, Tug,” Sibella said. “However, I must decline. The dance has been cancelled due to financial constraints.”

Elsa managed not to cheer when Sibella said no, but she couldn’t keep a smirk off her face. Her best friend may not be interested in her, but she still had better taste than this Tug fellow. Tug’s face fell momentarily, but then the smirk was back.

“But that means you’d go with me if the dance was happening, right?” he asked. “What if us Calloway cadets got the dance back on?”

“If you were the ones to finance the dance I wouldn’t say no,” Sibella conceded. Elsa felt her heart—both of them actually—momentarily stop. Her words were directed at Tug, but her eyes were on Elsa. “That is only if the winter dance occurs and if you boys are the ones responsible for reinstating it. Do we have a deal, Tug Roper?”

“Get your dancing shoes because we’ll be kicking it up next Friday,” Tug said. He pointed both his index fingers at Sibella with his thumbs raised in the air and winked. “I’ll see you in the Calloway gym with bells on.”

“I hope not,” Winnie frowned. Tug disappeared through the bushes with Miguel following him. “Bells would be extremely noisy.”

“But think of the music she’d make,” Phantasma protests.

As her friends argued back and forth about the implications of Sibella’s potential date Elsa kept her head down. She couldn’t believe that had just happened, especially when Sibella didn’t say no, which meant she had said yes. At least Tug took it that way. Maybe if she didn’t look at anyone or talk this would turn out to be a bad daymare; the not fun kind. It was the only hope she had.

Unsurprisingly, the tail end of lunch left Elsa in a bad mood. The only thing worse than being asked out by a boy was having a different one ask Sibella out as well. The mood didn’t lift until physics and even then she was still noticeably out of sorts to the point that Ms. Dinkley asked if she needed to visit the nurse. That startled her enough to knock her out of the funk and actually start enjoying science class again. After all, if Elsa couldn’t enjoy science, what was the point of life?

“Alright, any last questions before tomorrow’s exam?” Ms. Dinkley asked, leaning against the chalkboard. The rest of it was covered in notes and diagrams from the review. “Remember, once that final bell rings I’m not answering any more content questions until after the test.”

Luna asked a question that was a little off topic, but sent Ms. Dinkley scribbling on the last chunk of open chalkboard. Elsa copied down the information by rote and hated the fact she wasn’t taking it in like she normally would. She just couldn’t get over Tug Roper asking Sibella out. Especially since she could see him holding her close on the dance floor, laughing at his corny jokes, ignoring when he spilled punch on her dress, then stepping on her feet and she’d grin through all of it anyway.

“Hey, steam’s coming out of your ears,” Sibella hissed as she poked Elsa’s cheek with a pencil. “What’s got you so riled up?”

“I’m just… thinking about the dance,” Elsa finished lamely.

“I can’t get it off my mind either,” Sibella agreed. “It’s so unfair.”

“You mean because you have a date?”

“I mean, because some creep shouldn’t have the power to ruin a school function for everyone. We should do something about it.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Ladies, if you really think you’re done reviewing for tomorrow’s exam you can spend the rest of the period clapping erasers in the back of the lab,” Ms. Dinkley said, frowning. She pointed to the back of the classroom. “Now, ladies.”

With a groan Elsa and Sibella slowly rose from the seats and walked to the back of the class. A few of the girls snickered, since it was so rare for either ghoul to get in trouble with Ms. Dinkley, but then the teacher rapped the chalkboard with a ruler returning things to order. A minute later and no one even looked twice toward the back of the room as they clapped erasers from the pile erasers sitting next to a broken Bunsen burner and lab sink.

“I suppose this day could still get worse,” Elsa grumbled.

“Undoubtedly,” Sibella agreed cheerfully. “At least we’re being punished together.”

“Yeah, but I’d rather not be punished at all.”

“There’s only another five minutes to class and I doubt Ms. D would keep us after. She simply wanted to keep us from distracting the others.”

Sibella couldn’t argue with that. When the final bell rang Ms. Dinkley made them finish the erasers they were working on and then sent them to wash up before club activities. In the bathroom Elsa noticed Sibella had a little chalk dust on her nose. Despite pointing it out to her several times, Sibella couldn’t seem to get it due to her lack of a reflection. So Elsa reached out and gently wiped the chalk away, which earned her a bigger smile than the one Sibella gave that cadet this afternoon. It sent Elsa’s heart thundering in her chest.

After that they made their way back to the science room for Mystery Science Theater Club—for some reason the name always made Ms. Dinkley snicker, Elsa didn’t know why—and Elsa felt better than she had all day. It turned out they were the last club members to arrive and the others had already arrived and twisted the desks into a semicircle for the meeting. Since their books were already piled on their desks, they slid back into their usual seats. Elsa grinned when Ms. Dinkley smiled and nodded at their arrival. She was relieved she wasn’t holding a grudge, though that wouldn’t have been typical for their teacher.

“Since there’s only another month before spring semester, I thought we should spend the day brainstorming for what play you want to perform,” Ms. Dinkley said. “After all, it’s high time we start preparing for the theater part of Mystery Science Theater Club. Miss Blake’s journalism club is also discussing plays today, as we’ll be pooling resources for the play, and she and I will decide what we’ll perform based on your choices.”

“Shouldn’t we be discussing this with them then?” Sibella asked.

“Yes, but they’re finishing their newspaper run right now and won’t be able to convene with us until the end of the hour. Talk amongst yourselves for ten minutes and then we’ll reconvene for a couple science demos before the journalists arrive.”

Elsa turned to look at the ghouls near her. No one seemed particularly forthcoming, so she decided to get the conversation started. It was better than sitting in silence. “What kind of play do we want to do? Action-adventure? Romance, tragedy, comedy, thriller?”

“Not a romance,” Medusa the gorgon grumbled, “unless it ends in death. Maybe by viper bite.”

“You’re just a sour-snake,” Hoshi the kitsune retorted. “A romance would be lovely, especially if there was a wily rogue involved. We could do Robin Hood! Especially if it were a lady Robin Hood.”

“What about the Little Mermaid?” Nessie asked. “There’s singing and water in that, we could have a whale of a time!”

“But every version of that play has a bad ending for the witch or the mermaid,” complained Ursula, a witch named after the villain from the movie. “We should do something psychological. Maybe Hitchcock, like Ms. Dinkley showed us in club?”

“I’ve just had a fangtastic idea!” Sibella announced.

“Oh, what play do you think would be properly shocking?” Elsa asked.

“Not that, I know how we can save the dance.” Sibella grinned wide enough to show off her fangs. “Mystery Science Theater will find the funds and capture the crook who stole it!”

“I thought we were supposed to be discussing plays,” Nessie said.

“That’s inconsequential,” Sibella said. “Anything we decide on will go out the moment the journalism club joins us with their own opinions on what we should do. No, for now our time is better spent solving the dance funds theft and anyone who thinks differently is batty.”

No one had anything to argue in response to that. After all, Sibella was usually right and Elsa could feel in her gut that she was right this time. Ms. Dinkley was still at her desk looking over papers, leaving the club to their own devices, so Sibella started outlining her plans for how to investigate the theft. As she talked Elsa felt her mind wander, but her eyes stayed focused on Sibella. She was magnificent to watch, especially when she was trying to be persuasive. Elsa would go as far as describing her as electrifying.

“Are you in, Elsa?” Sibella suddenly asked, catching Elsa’s attention.

“You mean for finding the dance funds?” Elsa asked. Sibella nodded. “I want to ask Ms. Dinkley about the case before I commit.”

“Ask away.”

“Hey, Ms. D, can I ask you a question?”

“You’ve already asked me one, Elsa, but you can ask another,” Ms. Dinkley said, not looking up from her paperwork.

“Do you have any idea who might have taken the dance funds or where they could be stashed?” Elsa asked. “We’re thinking about making recovering the funds a Mystery Science Theater club activity.”

“Who is the easy part, Pericles did it.”

“How do you know that?” Sibella asked. The other ghouls leaned forward eagerly in their chairs. They all wanted to hear their science teacher’s solution.

“Ms. Dynamite was chasing him through the halls Friday afternoon, trying to catch him to get the dance funds back,” Ms. Dinkley explained. “I… unfortunately allowed him to escape. Since she cancelled the dance, that must mean she’s given up on recovering the funds. As for where the money’s stashed, I don’t have the first clue for where it’s hidden. Perhaps Professor Pericles already spent it.”

“Thank you Ms. Dinkley,” Sibella said. Elsa and the rest of the club chorused their gratitude as well. Once their teacher returned her attention to her work Sibella leaned over and tapped Elsa on the shoulder. “We already know the who and the what; are you in for figuring out the why and, most importantly, the where? If you helped, I’m sure we would find it. That would get me out of a date with Tug.”

“Yeah okay,” Elsa agreed, grinning. It was impossible for her to say no to Sibella. “I’m in. Let’s go find the money.”


	2. Chapter 2

Part way through the physics exam there was a loud bang and the room filled with smoke so thick Elsa couldn’t see the test in front of her. Everyone started coughing and Ms. Dinkley rushed to the windows, flinging them open while turning on several fans. Elsa dropped to the floor to escape the smoke. She looked around, trying to determine the source of all this unexpected smoke. She was surprised to find an unfamiliar pair of shoes in the middle of the classroom and through the smoke she could see a woman’s silhouette. It didn’t look like Ms. Dinkley or any of her classmates.

“Surprise!” the woman shouted as the smoke coinciding with her arrival finished dissipating.

“Madelyn?” Ms. Dinkley gaped. She shut her jaw after a moment and fixed the woman with the harshest glare Elsa had ever seen. Pointing at the door she shouted, “Get out! Immediately!”

“But Velma,” she whined.

“Out!”

Pouting, Madelyn slowly stomped to the door, opened it, and slammed it shut. Ms. Dinkley sighed, pushed up her glasses, and addressed the class. “My apologies for the interruption. Please get back to work on the exam; you can work past final bell. Now I will be back in a few minutes. No cheating while I’m gone.”

Of course, the moment she walked out of the room, everyone abandoned their tests to crowd around the door and covertly observe. Everyone wanted to know who this lady was and how she could get under Ms. Dinkley’s skin that easily. Elsa bet she was a relative, probably a sister, based on the way they interacted and just how similar they looked. In her family you could always tell who came from the same parts, as one learned how to match bits of people together. They had the same cheeks and smile.

“I don’t see how this is fair,” Madelyn grumbled. “You told me I could visit after four and it’s way later than that.”

“I meant four o’clock my time, not wherever you were,” Ms. Dinkley explained, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “You just interrupted my last class’s midterm with smoke and a clap of thunder.”

“How was I supposed to know? Mom says you have to have to let me visit and you’ve ignored all my calls. I’ve been begging to meet your girlfriend for months!”

“Mads please. The school year is not an optimal time to visit me. I am really busy and weren’t you in the middle of magician’s school? What happened to that?” Ms. Dinkley crossed her arms. “You wouldn’t shut up about it during the winter holidays.”

“I… got expelled,” Madelyn mumbled.

“From magician’s school.”

“It was the University of Tübingen’s wizardry and magical arts program!” Madelyn snapped. “It’s a legitimate program, Velma!”

“Okay, I believe you, but why are you here?”

“I accidentally turned my faculty advisor into a weasel and no one can figure out how to turn him back,” Madelyn admitted, glaring at her shoes. “Until then I’m on indefinite expulsion.”

“I see.” After a long pause Ms. Dinkley sighed, took off her glasses and cleaned them with her shirtfront. Once they were returned to her face she asked, “Do you have any money on you? American money?”

“No, why?”

“Here’s a dollar. Go to the faulty lounge, buy yourself a candy bar, and stay there until I collect you. Head directly there, do not pass go, do not collect $200. If I hear from any of the staff that you didn’t go straight there, I will skin you alive and use your hide for a tablecloth. Do you understand?”

“Thanks V,” Madelyn said. She plucked the dollar from Ms. Dinkley’s fingers and kissed her check before skipping down the hall.

“Oh man, I hope she does skin her alive,” Dusk whispered. “Do you think she’d let us watch?”

“Dusk, gross,” Thorn hissed, elbowing her friend in the side.

“Like you wouldn’t be interested,” Dusk retorted. “I wonder how she’d keep her alive afterward? Who here wouldn’t kill to see living rippling muscle in action without the skin hiding all the cool stuff?”

No one in the class could deny wanting to see that. However, before they could get a real discussion going, Ms. Dinkley was on her way back to the room and they all returned to their seats before she could realize they had been spying. The rest of the period was uneventful, though it was clear none of the ghouls were particularly focused on their exams. Elsa skimmed her answers, but didn’t add much more, mostly because she had basically finished before the interruption. Instead, she watched Ms. Dinkley watch the clock, clearly wanting to track down her errant sister, and observing Sibella frantically penciling in answers on her test. As much as they studied together, she never got the scientific principles as easily as Elsa did.

When final bell rang Ms. Dinkley kept her word in allowing the students to keep working, but it was clear she’d rather bolt with the class for parts unknown. Luckily for her, the last exam was handed in before anyone had even left and Ms. Dinkley pushed everyone out of her room before locking up.

“Excuse me, girls, but I’ve got to go deal with my sister,” Ms. Dinkley explained, as she normally would have allowed Elsa and Sibella to stay for club.

“What about Mystery Science Theater?” Elsa asked.

“You wanted to hunt for the dance funds and I think that’s an excellent idea. I suggest talking to the criminal mastermind himself,” Ms. Dinkley suggested, referring to Professor Pericles. “Will you let the others know the game plan? If you run into any issues, go to Shaggy—Mr. Rodgers—or Miss Blake. Ms. Dynamite might wring his neck if he gives you any beak and then you won’t get any useable information.”

“We will,” Sibella assured her.

“Great.”

Elsa had never seen Ms. Dinkley run that fast before, she could give Winnie a run for her money and she wasn’t crashing through people like the wolfgirl did. Once she was out of sight Sibella turned to Elsa with a big smile on her face.

“Let’s get to work.”

In the end the club decided to enlist Mr. Jones, the gym teacher from Calloway, into helping them trap their foreign languages teacher for an interrogation. For some reason, Mr. Jones didn’t really believe that Professor Pericles was really a teacher at Grimwood and kept referring to him as Sibella’s lost parrot. However, this made him more than willing to set up a trap for the girls to catch the parakeet, which Elsa doubted he would have been as willing to do if he realized Professor Pericles was an actual professor.

“Alright girls, birds are surprisingly smart, but this trap should catch your parrot,” Mr. Jones said. He frowned reprovingly at Sibella. “Next time, Miss Dracula, you make certain you don’t play with your pet anywhere he could get loose and fly away. I suggest clipping his wings.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Mr. Jones, however, I doubt he’d appreciate that,” Sibella said. She exchanged a glance with Elsa. No one had ever suggested Professor Pericles was a pet to Mr. Jones, but he hadn’t listened to any of their corrections on the subject. Eventually they had decided it was easier to simply accept his version of the narrative.

“How exactly is this trap supposed to work?” Sibella asked. 

“It’s a little complicated,” Elsa began, trying to figure out how to describe the trap. She had enjoyed building this contraption with Mr. Jones, but thought it was overly complex. Unfortunately, Mr. Jones seemed to think her statement funny, as he started laughing hard enough it had him bowled over.

“A trap of this level isn’t particularly complex,” he chuckled, once he had finally recovered enough to breath and wipe his eyes. “You kids will have to come by for trap-making lessons and then we’ll get into building the really complex ones. Maybe trap something more exciting than a parrot. Oh, thanks for the laugh, kids—someone calling a Gilbert’s Backdoor complex!”

“I don’t know if I want to catch anything other than Pericles,” Winnie muttered, “At least not unless I chased it down on all fours.”

“Shh. It’s now time to hide and wait for our quarry,” Mr. Jones whispered. He pushed everyone behind a couple of sofas he had artfully covered with a sheet. It reminded Elsa of hide and seek, though she didn’t especially want to be caught.  
It took a long while, a lot of the girls eventually wandered off to do something more fun, for anything to happen. Eventually though, they heard Professor Pericles’s voice echoing down the hallways as he trilled some German ditty.

Professor Pericles tended to fly along the highest peak of the arched corridor ceilings and today was no exception. As he soared into the great hall, rapidly accenting, his wings fluttered through gossamer threads, that would have felt like cobwebs to the bird. However, they were actually pressure sensitive triggers that set the trap in motion. The tension on the threads caused a lighter to flip open and light up. This lit an oil soaked rope and the flames raced upward faster than the bird until it burnt away the rope fastening an oversized mace to the ceiling. The mace swung directly at Pericles, which sent him reeling toward the side in a blind panic. 

He flew straight into a catcher’s mitt and the pressure on the glove released a spring that caused it to spin in a half circle until it slammed into the open front of a birdcage. Pericles tumbled into the prison and the whole cage rattled to such an extent that the door swung shut, automatically locking in place, despite the parakeet’s best attempts to break free. His continued struggle wrenched the pick holding the chain, and the birdcage, out of wall. The cage immediately dropped a foot before jerking to a stop, rattling its contents horribly, before the safety wheel kicked in and the chain slowly unspooled at a more sedate pace. Eventually the cage finished its descent by landing on the great hall’s floor.

“Who did this?” Professor Pericles demanded as he thrashed about his prison. “Detention! You all have detention! Free me before your punishment becomes something worse!”

“Wow, you’ve really taught your bird a lot of interesting words,” Mr. Jones laughed as he exited their hiding spot. Elsa and the others slowly followed him out. They were a lot more cautious about facing Pericles the Calloway teacher was.

“Frankenteen, Dracula, this is your doing!” Professor Pericles howled, beating his wings against the bars. “A month’s detention for both of you!”

“Gee, he almost sounds like he understands you. Kinda makes me want a talking pet.”

“I promise, you don’t want one as rotten as him,” Sibella murmured. Elsa hid a smile as Professor Pericles spat in rage. She knew they’d get in trouble, they were already in trouble, but she loved Sibella’s spunk.

“Well, girls, here’s your bird,” Mr. Jones said. He handed the cage over after unhooking the chain. “Seriously think about what I said; clip his wings and you won’t have any more serious escape attempts.”

“We’ll consider it,” Sibella promised.

Elsa hoped she wasn’t being serious. Clipping his wings was the sort of cruelty Professor Pericles inflicted on his students—making the act somewhat just—and she never wanted to sink to his level. Besides, from the absolutely murderous expression on his face, she had a feeling that if they did clip his wings, she’d wake up one morning to find Sibella pecked to death.

“Freddy, what are you doing here?”

Everyone turned in to see Miss Blake at one end of the hall with a surprised expression on her face. She had a light dusting of pink across her nose and cheeks, which highly unusual. She walked past Sibella and Professor Pericles, completely ignoring his cries for help, to reach Mr. Jones. When she latched onto his arm Mr. Jones’s face also went red.

“Miss Blake, why I wasn’t expecting you here! I was… I was… traps.”

“Freddy, you know you ought to call me Daphne. We are friends, aren’t we?”

“Daphne, release me from this prison and take these kinder to Miss Grimwood,” Professor Pericles commanded. “This is your duty as a teacher.”

“Quiet bird,” Miss Blake snapped, not even bothering to look at him. “Come on, Freddy, why don’t you come to my class room and we’ll have some tea while you tell me about your traps, hmm?”

“Okay,” Mr. Jones weakly agreed. Miss Blake beamed at him.

Once Miss Blake had whisked Mr. Jones away, the club turned their attention to Professor Pericles. He fixed them with his malevolent gaze from inside the prison. The younger ghouls especially edged away from him, since he was a typically imposing teacher even when not enraged about being captured, and Elsa soon found herself standing guard. She wasn’t unnerved by his blind eye or flesh rending talons.

“If you let me out now, you will avoid the worst consequences of your actions, kinder,” Professor Pericles quietly whispered. “Release me, Frankenteen or regret it.”

“No can do, Professor Pericles,” Elsa said, shaking her head. “You were hard enough to trap once and I don’t aim to do it again. We’ll release you once you reveal the location of the stolen dance funds.”

“Hmph,” Professor Pericles scoffed. He shifted his claws along the support bar at the bottom of the tiny birdcage and flapped his wings as best as he could. There wasn’t room in the cage for him to fully extend them. If they were going to hang onto him long term they’d have to get him a larger prison.

“Alright, Pericles, it’s time to spill your guts,” Winnie said, cracking her knuckles as she walked toward the cage. She wasn’t part of Mystery Science Theater club, preferring to stick with Mr. Rodgers’s extracurricular sports, but she’d gladly help her friends save the dance. “If you don’t start jawing, I’ll have you howling in no time.”

“Now hold on, Winnie, we have to give him a chance to come clean,” Sibella said, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder to halt her advance. “Just tell us what you did with the money and you can go back to making the entire student body’s lives miserable.”

“You’re even battier than I thought if you think you can make me talk,” Professor Pericles cackled. “I have experienced things in my life far more terrible than your worst nightmares, kinder. It will be amusing to see what you consider torture.” 

Elsa exchanged a glance with Sibella. They didn’t really have a plan in place to actually torture their teacher—honestly, trapping him had been more of a fantasy than any rational plan before they ran into Mr. Jones—and weren’t certain how to proceed. At first they tried to tickle his feet with a feather, which would have worked on any of the girls, and then tried using Winnie’s singing to get him to talk. The howling annoyed him, but the ghouls were the ones first begging her to stop.

“I can offer you all suspensions for now, but if you do not release me immediately, you will all be expelled!” Professor Pericles shouted. “I promise you, kinder, you will not like me when I am angry.”

“That suggests we like you now,” Sibella grumbled. Elsa looked up in surprise. Normally, she’d expect that sort of line from Winnie, not Sibella. Pericles must really be getting to her.

“Hey, let’s talk for a moment. Maybe we can come up with a bright idea,” Elsa said, steering Sibella away. This time Winnie could stand watch. They ducked out of the great hall into the corridor, which was fortunately empty. Elsa asked how she was feeling.

“Frustrated! He makes me feel like such a sucker because I honestly thought we could get the information out of him, but now I’ve put all our futures in jeopardy with this batty plan.” Sibella sighed and ran her hands through her hair. Elsa just wanted to hug her and promise that things would turn out okay.

“I’m sure he’s all bark and no bite. If he could do anything worse than give ghouls detention, he would have kicked Dusk out ages ago.”

“Yes, but Dusk never imprisoned a teacher.”

“I have definitely seen our classmates do worse than this. I doubt anyone other than Ms. Dynamite or Miss Grimwood could actually expel us.”

“What are you kids doing to trigger my heebie-jeebies?” Ms. Dynamite demanded. Elsa and Sibella rushed into the great hall to see their music teacher had a perfect view of Professor Pericles caged.

“Angel, get me out of here!” Professor Pericles squawked.

“Well, well, well, I see the bird’s been caged,” Ms. Dynamite said, ambling toward him. After picking up the cage, she snapped her free hand’s fingers and pointed toward the door. “Girls, beat it. The school’s closed for the day and you’re all due at the dorm for dinner.”

“But,” Elsa began, uncertain as to what she was protesting. Ms. Dynamite seemed willing to overlook the fact the fact they had caged one of their teachers, but she still wanted answers.

“Now Elsa,” Ms. Dynamite ordered. “I’ve got a bone to pick with this bird.”

“We just want to know what he did with the dance funds!”

“And it’s my job to find that out, sugar, not yours. Now scoot!”

Elas wanted to continue protesting, but Sibella grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room. The rest of the girls had already fled. They ran out of the room hand in hand, not stopping until they were out on the school steps. As they caught their breath their eyes met and they started laughing.

“Well, that didn’t yield any useful information,” Elsa chuckled. “At least Ms. Dynamite seems to be willing to let it all slide?”

“And yet, I don’t regret doing what we just did?” Sibella said. She smiled fondly at Elsa, which of course, made her smile back.

“Me neither.”

“Of course, this means we’re still at square one for where he hid the money. For all we know he’s already spent it or decided to do something silly, like burn it.”

“We have to assume it’s still a viable source of income, otherwise it’s all hopeless.” Elsa shook her head. “I want this dance to happen. That means we need to locate the money, even if we have to search everywhere within a day’s flight.”

“He couldn’t have possibly carried it that far; Pericles is old and it would weight him down. I highly doubt he could have carried it farther than Barren Bog.”

“Then let’s check there for the money! We can do it before class tomorrow and check the school grounds afterward if we still haven’t located it,” Elsa suggested. “I’m sure we can get enough ghouls together for a proper search party; I can’t think of a single girl uninterested allowing the dance to occur.”

“I suppose,” Sibella sighed. “I wish we had gotten a little intel from Pericles before Ms. Dynamite arrived.”

“Hey, if we had gotten any, would it have even been trustworthy? He’s a scoundrel and if he gave us the truth I’d be even more shocked than if I stood up on the roof during a thunderstorm.”

“True,” Sibella laughed. 

With that decision in place, she grabbed Elsa’s hand and dropped the matter in favor of their history assignment as they walked back to the dorms. Elsa was secretly pleased she didn’t let go until they sat down at the table. It was such a little thing, but she liked to pretend that Sibella was just as reluctant to let go as she was. Sure, it was just a little thing, but it was all she had and she’d cling to it with all her might. During the dinner conversation Elsa kept wondering if, presuming they held the dance, would she have the guts to ask Sibella to dance? As she watched her laugh at something Tanis said, she certainly hoped so.


	3. Chapter 3

“This was a spooktacular idea, Elsa,” Phantasma proclaimed as she stuck her head through a tree trunk. “I love a game of hide and shriek in the morning! Especially in Barren Bog. You know, I haven’t been out here since the last time Mr. Rogers took us for a bog jog.”

“We’re working, not playing. Try to keep searching for the dance funds,” Elsa grumbled. Initially she had been looking forward to this pre-school hunt, but on their way over, a few cadets had spotted them and invited themselves along. Now Tug Roper was dogging Sibella’s every step. Elsa was nearly stuck with Miguel as a second shadow, but eventually lost him in a patch of quicksand. If she could transform, it would drive Elsa batty or possibly howling.

“On it, Elsa,” Phantasma giggled and raced off through the trees. Hopefully she’d stop and investigate further if she did pass through anything of interest.

Now that she was on her own it was time to get to work. She picked a direction, started walking, and dug through every bit of vegetation she came across looking for the money. Or rather, she was looking for anything not natural, since she wasn’t quite certain what the funds would look like. Originally, all the money had been stuffed into a massive glass jar that once contained pickles, but Professor Pericles had likely changed its container. She couldn’t imagine him getting a decent grip on glass.

She made solid progress methodically working her way through the bushes for maybe half an hour. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Tanis doing the same a few feet away. Somehow, seeing that this was a team effort made the search go more smoothly for Elsa; it kept her on track and functioning at an efficient pace. Or at least it did until she heard a whooping and crashing through the woods that was distinctly not Phantasma. The Calloway cadets had joined the search. Typically, Elsa was all for a rambunctious and off kilter hunt, but today it made her stitches itch. The money didn’t matter to them the way it did to her people.

She tried to ignore them and focus on her task like she had before, but it quickly became clear that was impossible. The boys were running back and forth through the woods and soon the girls gave up the hunt to chase them instead. Elsa had enough when one of the smaller boys crashed into her at full tilt and ricocheted off into a bush. She decided to seek out Sibella to regroup because clearly this wasn’t working.

She strode through the bog and eventually found Sibella in a small grove. It was secluded and unexpectedly private, which was perfect until Elsa spotted Tug there as well. She paused at the edge of the trees when she realized they were embroiled in a conversation. After a moment’s thought she crouched down so that she wouldn’t be seen; the last thing she wanted was to be caught eavesdropping.

“Can’t you give me any hints?” Tug whined. “How am I supposed to buy you the right sort of corsage if you won’t tell me the color of your dress for the dance?”

“It should be obvious,” Sibella replied. “There’s only one suitable type.”

“Purple?” Tug guessed, gesturing at Sibella’s favorite dress.

Elsa snorted. She couldn’t believe he didn’t know what was the right corsage type to a dance. The correct answer was dead—the more desiccated, the better. If one wanted to be daring, heavily thorny roses with the heads cut off was an acceptable alternative, but Sibella was a stanch traditionalist and preferred withered beyond belief. Tug would have to up his game if he wanted to impress Sibella.

“No, and I don’t need a corsage from you,” Sibella said.

“Oh, I’m so glad to hear that!” Tug exclaimed. “That’ll make getting ready for the dance so much easier for me, since I’ll just have to put on a suit and come pick you up.”

“That’s not what I…” Sibella huffed and shook her head. “Why don’t you help me find the dance funds instead? I’d appreciate that a lot more.”

“Sure thing,” Tug grinned. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Shall we go look over there?”

“Fangtastic idea,” Sibella said and shot him a genuine smile.

Elsa tore her eyes away from them and looked down. She was surprised to see that a rock she had been fiddling with while she waited for their conversation to end was now gravel. Bits of stone still pooled in the palm of her hand. It had been a long time since she unintentionally pulverized something with her bare hands.

She backed out of the vegetation she had been standing in and made a quick about face. She had listened for too long and couldn’t take anymore. She had to get away before she did something stupid. It wasn’t her business who Sibella dated—even if she didn’t think Tug was anywhere good enough—and it would strain their relationship if she complained about him. If this was going to become a thing for Sibella, Elsa had best start practicing controlling her feelings because in her opinion, there wasn’t anyone good enough for her friend; not even her.

There was no way she could focus on the hunt anymore that morning. So Elsa marched straight back to Grimwood. Class would be starting soon and she didn’t want to be late for history with Miss Dempsey. She wasn’t particularly fond of the subject—and for some reason Miss Dempsey seemed to particularly dislike her, though she didn’t seem to like any of her students much—but Elsa believed in applying hard work in all of her classes so that she could complete them to the best of her ability. Plus Sibella had a way of making history come to life when they talked about their lessons during study hall. Elsa could listen to her recap of the goblin rebellions for hours.

Sibella drifted into class just before first period started. Elsa glanced at her, but before she could say anything Miss Dempsey started the lesson. Several times she tried to say something or pass a note to her friend, but somehow Miss Dempsey noticed every time she tried and called her to task. The last time was the worst because Miss Dempsey snatched the note away and declared she’d read it out loud, since Elsa seemed so desperate to have Sibella hear it.

“Please don’t, Miss,” Elsa begged, regretting the moment the words were out of her mouth. It wasn’t a particularly spurious note, but asking it not to be read was a surefire way of getting it read to the class.

“You should have thought about that before continually interrupting class, Frankenteen,” Miss Dempsey snapped. As soon as she unfurled the tattered parchment Elsa had tried to pass Miss Dempsey began reading, “Are you really going to the dance with Tug? If that’s what you’re into, cool, but he didn’t even know what kind of flowers you like.”

An outburst of laughter ensued as Miss Dempsey continued reading the note. Elsa slunk down in her chair. She hadn’t gone into that much detail, but she’d been honest in her note—it had been meant for Sibella’s eyes only—and she would have been less candid if she had expected it to become public fodder. Of course, even when she was trying to word things delicately, Elsa was remarkably frank; she was a Frankenteen, after all. Her directness put a strain on most of her relationships from time to time, but never quite like this.

Miss Dempsey had almost finished the note when Sibella turned into a bat and flapped out of the room. This actually made Miss Dempsey stop reading. She looked like she was about to call Sibella back into the room, but instead shut her mouth, shrugged, and resumed the lesson.

Sibella didn’t return to class and Elsa didn’t see her again until lunch. There they made the briefest of eye contact before Sibella turned about face and fled the dining had. However, she did it so smoothly that no one else noticed her escape and Elsa wouldn’t have either, if she hadn’t been watching the whole time. Still, seeing her best friend avoid her like this left Elsa stony faced as she collected her meal and joined her other friends outside. The unexpected deluge couldn’t even improve her mood.

“Hoooody, Elsa,” Winnie howled in greeting. “Sibella not with you today?”

“No. I don’t think she’ll be joining us today,” Elsa replied flatly. She ripped open her carton of milk and took a sip.

“That’s a shame,” Tanis said. “Do you know why not?”

“I bet she’s still looking for the money,” Phantasma interjected. Elsa smiled, more than happy for her to make up her own reason for Sibella’s absence. “Sibella wants to find the dance funds more than anyone else and I admire her spirited attempts. We should totally spend the rest of lunch looking too!”

“No need to look because we have the money,” Tug announced as he stomped into their lunch circle. His uniform looked a little bedraggled from the rain, but it hadn’t washed the smirk off his face. Elsa repressed her irritation from his presence. She didn’t need him at lunch as well.

“You found the dance funds?” Tanis asked in wonder.

“That’s spooktacular!” Phantasma yelped, rising into the air.

Winnie let out a small yip, but otherwise stayed unexpectedly silent. Normally she was far more vocal, but she seemed overcome with emotion right now as she stared at Tug. He momentarily glanced at her and briefly smiled before looking back to Phantasma. It was hard to tell, but Elsa thought Winnie might have gone a little pink under her fur.

“We didn’t find the missing money, but we’ve raised enough to host the dance,” Tug explained. “Where’s Sibella? I want to share the good news with her.”

“We’ve raised almost enough money,” Miguel corrected. “My calculations suggest that we should have everything to meet the Coronal’s rental fee by the deadline, but there won’t be any leftover for food, decorations, or music.” 

“The point is,” Tug stressed, glaring at his friend. “We can have the dance. That’s all that matters.”

“It won’t be much of a dance without music,” Phantasma retorted. 

“And it would be nice if the dance looked good,” Elsa added softly. She didn’t think anyone heard her.

“We can improvise!” Tug insisted.

Phantasma tapped her cheek thoughtfully as she floated in place. “Maybe we could get the Hex Girls to play. I’m sure Thorn, Dusk, and Luna would love the chance to play in front of a live audience. Yeah, that could work!”

“That still means collecting enough money to finish paying off Coronal Calloway, get decorations, and refreshments for the party,” Elsa said. As much as she didn’t want to use the money from the cadets, she wouldn’t refuse it. She wasn’t about to ruin the dance for everyone just because she didn’t like the funding source. She rose to her feet and picked up her tray. “So we need to get back to the hunt right now, just like Phanty suggested.”

There was a chorus of agreements and then the lunch party dispersed. Elsa bussed her tray and did start a halfhearted search of the school grounds for the stolen funds. However, she was too big, too earthbound, and uninterested in actually finding the money at the moment to do a good job. Pericles would have hidden it somewhere out of her reach, so what was really the point in hunting?

As she drifted along the school corridors Elsa eventually ended up on the third floor near the science room. She knew the teachers all ate lunch in the faculty room, but Ms. Dinkley’s door was open. That meant there was a chance she was still there. Elsa needed to talk with someone about what was going on, someone who might understand. Ms. Dinkley still might not, she was too cool to have ever had problems like hers, but she seemed like a better bet at the moment than Elsa’s friends.

“Hey, Ms. Dinkley?” Elsa asked, knocking on the doorframe of the science room. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Elsa, come in,” Ms. Dinkley called. When she entered the room Elsa found not only Ms. Dinkley, but also Ms. Fleach hunched over the former’s desk. It was a little surprising to find Ms. Fleach there, but not that unusual. “Is this in relation to that talk we had the other week?”

“Ah… yeah,” Elsa replied lamely. She felt sheepish enough coming to Ms. Dinkley about her issues, but she didn’t know if she could broach them with Ms. Fleach present as well. They teachers exchanged a glance.

“I can meet up with you later,” Ms. Fleach said to Ms. Dinkley. “If you can prep a grocery list during club activities, that would be great. Your sister’s surprise visit threw our cooking schedule out of whack.”

“No, it’s okay, you can stay,” Elsa said, swallowing thickly. The last thing she wanted to do was chase Ms. Fleach off. She was a surprisingly cool teacher with a wicked sense of humor. Elsa would go as far as to say she was her second favorite teacher at Grimwood after Ms. Dinkley. “I just… how do you deal with jealousy?”

“Not very well,” Ms. Fleach said. Ms. Dinkley elbowed her in the side then smiled at Elsa.

“Did your talk with your friend not go so hot?” Ms. Dinkley asked.

“No, I haven’t gotten the chance to ask her,” Elsa admitted. She picked at some of the stitching along the back of her neck. Normally that calmed her a little, but it wasn’t grounding her today. “We were searching Barren Bog for the dance funds with some Calloway cadets and one of them kept flirting with her. I know he’s decided he’s taking her to the dance and she might be happy to go with him? I don’t know. I accidentally crushed some rocks with my bare hands when I heard them talking about it. I’m a little worried I’m going to do that to his face when I see them together at the dance.”

“Murder is generally a bad idea,” Ms. Dinkley agreed.

“Especially when Miss Grimwood won’t approve our budget request for a woodchipper,” Ms. Fleach added. “Though perhaps you could get Miss Dempsey to help you dispose of a body.”

“Marcie hush!” Ms. Dinkley snapped. She looked at Elsa seriously, though the girl’s face seemed even more crumpled than usual.

“And that’s the other thing, I did something really stupid!” Elsa continued, losing her composure.

“Uh-oh,” Ms. Fleach said.

“What did you do, Elsa?” Ms. Dinkley asked. “Did you hurt Tug?”

“Even worse, I hurt Sibella!” Elsa cried. Alarm flashed across both teachers’ faces, but she was too upset to notice. “I tried to pass her a note asking her about why she liked Tug in first period, but Miss Dempsey intercepted it and read the whole thing out loud to the class. Sibella flew away and now she won’t even be in the same room as me!”

“But she’s still in one piece, physically,” Ms. Dinkley said, but it came out like a question. Elsa nodded.

“As far as I know. Why?”

“Hurt emotions, while a serious problem, are a lot easier to repair than a torn off limb,” Ms. Dinkley explained. Elsa rubbed the stitching along her elbow and Ms. Dinkley smiled. “Not everyone can be put back together as easily as you can.”

“I’m going to have to have a talk with Verona,” Ms. Fleach sighed. “A long one.”  
“Please. You know she’ll do the exact opposite if I try. Humiliation is not the way to curb bad behavior and she always pulls these stunts on my favorite kids. You know that’s not an accident.”

Belatedly, Elsa realized they were talking about Miss Dempsey. She hadn’t realized her first name was Verona, but it felt so good to hear Ms. Dinkley refer to her as a favorite kid. It left her feeling a little warm inside.

“If you even feel the need to maim this boy or anyone else, come talk to me instead, okay? Doesn’t matter if you have to leave class or show up in the middle of the night. I will always listen to you, Elsa,” Ms. Dinkley promised.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I don’t know how to deal with these feelings!” Elsa said. “Did you ever have to deal with seeing your crush dating someone else? How did you handle it?”

“I avoided them mostly. However, one of my experiences might slightly apply. For senior prom my best friend and I decided to go together. Not a date, but as friends. Still, it was a big deal and I was really hurt when I arrived at the dance and found he had stood me up.” Then Ms. Dinkley mumbled something that suspiciously sounded like ‘to watch movies with a dog’ and Elsa glanced at Ms. Fleach to see if she had caught what had really been said. From the incredulous expression on her face, she had a feeling she had heard the same thing, “Anyway, I was quite hurt, but since I was at the dance after buying a dress and my ticket, I decided to make the best of it. Danced with a vengeance and actually had a lot of fun, even if I didn’t speak to my friend for three weeks.”

“Did you say he stood you up for a dog?” Ms. Fleach asked. Ms. Dinkley avoided eye contact.

“I have to run some paperwork down to the office before my next class,” Ms. Dinkley announced. Then she grabbed a random folder off her desk and made a beeline for the door. Ms. Fleach followed her. When it became apparent that Ms. Dinkley had no intention of being caught she stopped chasing.

“Velma Dinkley, you’d better tell me the whole story when we get home; don’t make me drag it out of your sister!” Ms. Fleach shouted. She turned to Elsa. “Do you want my advice?”

“Yes,” Elsa said.

“If we’re able to have the dance, go to it. You’ve been looking forward to it for weeks and even if your friend goes with some guy, you’ll still have fun together. I promise the things you’ll regret most in life are the things you don’t do and wished you did.”

“But, what if I lose my temper?”

“Then you lose your temper, but I don’t think that’s going to happen, Elsa. You’re pretty even keeled and if you’re worrying about this now, it won’t be a worry at the dance because you’re going to keep your actions in check. Things might feel hopeless now, but don’t lose faith. She’s your friend and even if she accepts this boy’s offer, she may just want a dance partner because someone never asked her out.”

“You seem awful certain she’d say yes and you don’t even know who she is,” Elsa mumbled.

“Let’s just say that for all my cynicism, I’m still a hopeful person and I see more than you think,” Ms. Fleach said, winking. “Now can I safely leave you unattended in this classroom? V will never let me hear the end of it if you cause trouble.”

“Of course you can leave me here,” Elsa said, affronted by the very notion. Ms. Fleach smiled and walked out, leaving Else to mull over her new information.


	4. Chapter 4

It turned out Elsa wasn’t needed to find the stolen funds—Sibella’s plan worked. While she had been hiding in the science room thinking, the rest of the gang scoured the ground floor of Grimwood searching for any signs of Pericles. In the end a trail of sunflower shells led Phantasma into an auxiliary chimney where a satchel containing the stolen dance funds was cleverly hidden behind fresh plaster. Only a determined phantom could find the loot, but it took the help of a little mummy who could fit into the brickwork to retrieve it.

Phantasma was still covered in scoot as she gave Elsa the gripping blow by blow of their daring retrieval before German class started. Elsa enjoyed the story greatly, except she couldn’t fully focus on her tale. She kept glancing at the classroom door wondering who would actually run their lesson today, since no one had seen Professor Pericles since Ms. Dynamite carried him off in that cage t. Miss Grimwood had run their last language class, since Pericles was “unavailable,” but that hadn’t gone very well. Generally, language classes only worked when the instructor spoke the language and Miss Grimwood only knew French (along with English and Latin of course).

“Alright class, settle down and return to your assigned seats. I know you have them,” Miss Grimwood announced.

Elsa smiled at Phantasma and slumped into her seat as the phantom drifted back to her own place. She certainly liked their headmistress, but she wished someone who actually knew German was running their class. After all, the only thing more pointless than a boring class was one where you couldn’t learn anything. It almost made her wish Pericles was here. Almost—though that might eventually change if she got terminally bored.

“Guten tag!” Madelyn greeted the class with an enthusiastic wave. Elsa was surprised to see her, but waved back. “Miss Grimwood says you need a little help with German? I’m no expert, but I’ve spent the last two years speaking almost nothing else. Thought I could help.”

“I’m certain you’ll be fine my dear,” Miss Grimwood said gently. She cleared her throat and addressed the class. “This is Miss Dinkley, Ms. Dinkley’s little sister. While Miss Dinkley is not a certified teacher, she has spent the last two years studying at the University of Tübingen in Tübingen, Germany. This is an optimal chance for you all to get answers about German culture from someone who has spent extensive time there recently and hear about their magic programs.”

Her classmates were far more enthusiastic than she would have expected at this announcement. Perhaps they were also sick of worksheets as well or maybe they were interested in talking with someone new. Grimwood was a pretty closed off community and a lot of ghouls, understandably, didn’t like mixing with the Calloway cadets. Hopefully she’d have some good stories about monsters in Munich.

There was a flurry of activity and soon the desks were rearranged so that they formed a semicircle around the front of the room. Elsa found herself seated between Phantasma and Luna, while Sibella remained elusively distant two seats away. She tried not to be frustrated by this fact—she had only upset Sibella this morning and at least she was now consenting to being in the same room. At least Madelyn seemed flattered by the attention, if that big smile on her face was anything to go by. She pulled a stool into the middle of the semicircle and settled on it while Miss Grimwood stationed herself off to the side behind Pericles’s desk.

“Alright ladies, ask me anything,” Madelyn said as she beamed at all the faces. “I’m totally an open book!”

This began a barrage of questions from the class. Elsa didn’t think of much to say, modern Germany held little appeal to her when compared to the scientific inquiry of the nineteenth century, but she enjoyed the back and forth between Madelyn and her classmates. However, when Sibella asked about the general policy on foreign students she felt her heart clench. The plan had always been that they’d go to Transylvania University—either the one in Kentucky or else Brasov, they hadn’t decided on which one—for their higher education. The mere idea that Sibella might be changing her mind on what they were going to do sent Elsa into a panic. It had only been one little fight and it wasn’t even fully her fault!

“Hey, are you okay?” Luna whispered. “You’re gripping that desk hard enough I can hear the wood cracking.”

“I’m fine,” Elsa mumbled.

“Yeah, and I’m a werewolf,” Luna snorted, flashing her fangs. She had sent the entire teaching staff into a tizzy the first time she joked about her dad being Blackula. Grimwood was diverse yes, but not that sort of diversity. Luckily for them, Luna was an excellent student because on a whole they did not know how to deal with vampires of color. “Is this about Sibella? Because you only get weird like this about Sibella.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Yeah, but it’s one of your more endearing qualities, Frankenteen. What’s gone wrong?”

“I wrote a note that ended up accidentally embarrassing her first period. She’s been avoiding me ever since,” Elsa glumly explained. She hated repeating her screw-ups yet again. “I’d be crushed if she’s changing her future plans because of that.”

“I doubt she is. More likely just trying to get a feel for what European universities are like. I mean, Germany and Romania are both part of the EU; acceptance principals for their schools are probably pretty similar, right?”

“Yeah, that could be it,” Elsa agreed. She stared at Sibella, who was still deep in conversation with Madelyn.

“I wouldn’t worry too much. Just give her time to sort out her feelings and get over herself. I hate to say it, but us vamps have a flair for the dramatics, especially when we feel slighted. If you’d like, I could talk to her on your behalf.”

“Would you?”

“Totally,” Luna promised.

With that single word Elsa felt more at ease. She leaned back in her chair and returned her attention to the lesson. They actually managed to fill up the entire period with Madelyn talking about her experiences abroad. As the bell rang Elsa quickly gathered her things and headed for the door. She wanted to try and catch Sibella again, but instead squashed that instinct to follow Luna’s advice.

It was hard sticking to it, but Elsa didn’t try to chase after Sibella again. Classes passed fairly uneventfully for the rest of the day. When Mystery Science Theater started for the day Miss Blake—for they had merged with the journalism club to put on the cheery musical, The Godfather—announced they were putting off work on the play to decorate the Calloway gym. Clearly, they weren’t the only club devoting their activity time to decoration because on the walk over Elsa fell in step with Winnie, who was part of the SPORTS club.

“Hiya Elsa!” Winnie cheerfully greeted her, also punching her in the shoulder. “As much as I love rugby with Coach Doo, my tail’s a wagging over this gym decoration. I’m so happy we’re having this dance I could howl!” For emphasis, she did just that, which always made Elsa grin.

The gym was a hive of activity when they arrived. Students from both schools were moving equipment, decorating, and setting up seating along one side of the room. Ms. Dinkley stood on the stage next to Ms. Dynamite and Colonel Calloway where the three seemed to be engrossed in an ongoing discussion that involved waving lots of long lists. From the way everyone was giving them wide berth, Elsa figured it was best to steer clear as well. Arguments could get pretty explosive when Dynamite was involved.

Elsa and Winnie drifted around the room looking for something to do. Their classmates had everything well in hand, but a lot of the gym was still bare, which suggested they ought to be able to decorate. Neither one of them was particularly interested in such a task, but it was for the good of the dance and they wanted it to be a fantastic event.

“Do you see anything we could help with?” Winnie asked as the pair leaned against a table. “I’m all for putting stuff up, but Nessie and those ghost triplets don’t look particularly willing to share their decorations.”

“It’s a shame, I’d love to get my hands on some of that genuine orb-weaver spider thread,” Elsa replied. They both admired their spiral wheel-shaped webs the ghosts were hanging. “I wanted to decorate my room back home with those, but Dad said no. He thought I’d be too clumsy to keep them intact.”

“They’re surprisingly sturdy. Otherwise how else could they catch the prey they eat?” 

“Hey, we brought more decorations for the dance,” Baxter announced as he set a box on the table that was almost as tall as him. The ghouls pushed off the table and turned to see what he had brought.

Winnie reached into the box and pulled out one of the red sheets of paper. There was a pair of lumps along one edge of the sheet and the other ended in a point. She twisted the paper around a few times trying to figure out was the decoration was supposed to be and then handed the paper to Elsa. She couldn’t tell what it was supposed to represent either.

“This is very well cut,” Elsa eventually said, trying to be diplomatic. “What is it?”

“It’s a heart,” Baxter said.

“You know, because dances are supposed to be about love and junk,” Tug added. “We thought it would be fitting.”

Elsa exchanged a worried glance with Winnie. This was clearly not a heart, at least not from anything they had ever studied. If this was the sort of biology Calloway Military School was passing off as acceptable Elsa was extremely worried about the cadets future. She’d have to let Ms. Dinkley know about this deficiency; perhaps she could create some remedial lessons for the boys.

“What type of animal is this heart supposed to power?” Elsa asked. “Even if this is a simple representation, I don’t see where any valves or arteries could attach.”

“What are you talking about? It’s a heart,” Tug said.

“It’s an idealized heart representing love, not any actual biological process,” Miguel explained. “We haven’t hosting a lot of dances at Calloway, but my sister says hearts, this sort of heart, are pretty typical decorations at dances. Especially if it’s a Valentine’s Day dance.”

“Oh, well then it’s brilliant,” Winnie said brightly. She scratched her chin thoughtfully as she stared at the ‘heart’ in Elsa’s hands. “Still seems like it’s missing something.”

“Maybe emphasize the love aspect somehow?” Elsa suggested. She wasn’t certain how to do that, but Winnie was a creative thinker.

“I’ve got it! Hold on a sec, you’re going to howl when I fix that heart,” Winnie announced. She raced across the gym toward the storage closet where Calloway’s physical education equipment was stored. A minute later she returned with an armload of knives and stabbed one through the heart. “Perfect!”

“Oh that looks much nicer,” Elsa agreed. She gently tapped the knife blade. “Seems a little dull though.”

“Why did you just stab that training knife through that heart?” Tug demanded. “Baxter spent a lot of time cutting them out.”

“Love is the most painful emotion of all and often feels like a stab to the heart. Especially if it’s not returned,” Elsa explained. She hoped it wasn’t obvious she spoke from experience. “More importantly, why do you train with dull knives?”

“So we don’t accidentally cut ourselves.”

“Oh that makes sense! This way you only stab people if you mean it!” Winnie exclaimed. Tug shot her a concerned looked.

“Come on guys,” he said, looking to Miguel and Baxter. “Let’s go help the others before their weirdness rubs off.”

As they walked away Winnie visibly deflated. Elsa patted her on the shoulder. “I thought your improvement was a great one.”

“Tug didn’t think so,” Winnie mumbled. Elsa rolled her eyes. What was with her friends all suddenly liking Tug? She did not get the appeal.

“Maybe he’ll get it once he sees the full effect. I’ll help. When we’re done and get them up all over the gym this many stabbed through hearts will definitely leave an impression.”

“That’s… a really good idea.” Winnie grinned showing off her canines, which was how Elsa knew it was a real smile. “Let’s get started!” 

It took a long while to stab and hang all the heart decorations. Eventually though, they finished the supply. The pair stepped back to admire their work. The area around the refreshment table was now plastered with their stabbed hearts, as these were the only sort of decorations Mr. Rogers would allow near the food—his exact words were, “Like, nothing goopy or wispy or bloody or oozy or, like, anything else that could fall into the food are allowed near the food, okay?”—and Elsa thought it looked properly ghoulish.

“I guess our work here is done,” Winnie said.

“Yeah,” Elsa agreed. She glanced around the gym, which was now properly decorated. “I guess we can head out now. Maybe I’ll go back to the dorm and work on my homework.”

“Already? But it’s not even dinner time yet!” Winnie protested. Elsa shrugged halfheartedly. Winnie growled in frustration. “Whatever Frankenteen. You wanna mope, go do that. I’m gonna go have some fun.” With that she peeled away shouting for Tanis and Phantasma.

Elsa wandered out of the gym and over to Calloway’s exercise field. It was far too level and overgrown with short green grassy to be any good, but that was the way the boys seemed to like it. Again, boys were weird. There was a set of bleachers next to the field. Elsa plopped down on the bottom bench and immediately hopped right back up again. She had expected her rear to come in contact with cool hard metal, but instead it had met something warm and furry.

“Wha-it?” Coach Doo groaned as he scrambled to his feet. After shaking his head he stretched into a half bow and gave a great yawn. “Elsa?”

“Coach Doo, were you sleeping?” Elsa asked.

“Just taking a little nap, but not a catnap. I only dognap.” He laughed into his paw at the little joke.

“Taking a break from preparing for the dance?”

“Ugh no. I hate dances. Avoid them at all cost.”

“Why?”

“I nearly lost my best friend and my other best friend over a dance,” Coach Doo said. He sat back down on the bench and Elsa settled beside him. She wanted to hear what had happened—it had to be a better reason for disliking dances than Pericles had. “They were going to a dance together, but didn’t invite me. I thought that meant they didn’t want me anymore, which hurt because they were my best pals. I loved them both! So I made him choose between me and her and that made everything awful for a long time. I regret that. So now I don’t go to dances.”

Elsa nodded, but didn’t say anything. Obviously, Coach Doo was imparting an important life lesson to her. She needed to learn from his mistakes and apply them to her own life. That meant she had to accept Sibella’s choices no matter what; even if they involved Tug.

“Hey Scooby, where are you?” Mr. Rogers shouted.

“R’over here!” Coach Doo howled, waving a paw. He bounded off the bench and ran to his co-teacher, leaving Elsa alone.

However, she wasn’t solitary for long, as a familiar weight settled on her shoulder. Elsa shrugged and the weight lifted. A second later she could see from the corner of her eye Sibella sitting behind her in her human form. There was a pause as she wondered if she was supposed to acknowledge her. After all, she had sought Elsa out this time.

“Fangcy running into you here,” Sibella said. Elsa had to crack a smile at her bloodless humor. These days it was muscle memory to laugh at her jokes.

“Hey, good job on finding the stolen dance funds,” Elsa said.

“Phanty and Tanis were the ones to find it.”

“But they did so following your plan.”

“True.”

There was a pause and then they both tried to speak at the same time. This, of course, made them both laugh and pause again. However, Elsa was only silent long enough to draw another breath. She really wanted to speak her piece before Sibella could say anything.

“I’m sorry about the note. If I had any idea Miss Dempsey was paying attention, I never would have tried passing it. If you like Tug and want to go to the dance with him, that’s totally your prerogative and I shouldn’t have said anything. I was jealous. Not of you have him, but…” Elsa trailed off, swallowed thickly to try to clear her throat, and looked at the ground. “Anyway, I never meant to embarrass you. You’re my best friend and I only want you to be happy.”

“I’m not going to the dance with Tug.”

“Huh?” Elsa looked up to see a vaguely amused smile on Sibella’s face. “What do you mean you’re not going with Tug?”

“Exactly what I said,” Sibella laughed. “The deal was that if they provided the funds for the dance I would go with him. However, since we recovered the original funds and no longer need the Calloway money, I’m under no obligation to do anything with him.”

“That’s why you were so insistent on recovering the funds,” Elsa said in wonder as the pieces fell into place. “You don’t want to go with Tug.”

“Tug Roper is a nice enough young man, albeit a little odd, but he’s not my type. I’d rather not give him false hope, especially when I’m interested in someone else.”

“Who?”

Sibella simply smiled again and shook her head. From the amused gleam in her eyes Elsa knew she wanted her to figure something out, but she didn’t have the faintest clue what. How was she supposed to know who Sibella liked, they had never really talked about that sort of thing and she only ever spent time with… oh.

“If you’re not going with Tug nor set on going stag, would you like to go to the dance with me?” Elsa asked. She could feel the blood pounding in her ears as she tried not to visibly tremble. There was no going back now, the question had been asked. Perhaps she could tag on something about ‘as friends,’ but she still had enough pride not to do that.

It was probably mere seconds, but it felt like an eternity before Sibella dipped her head in assent. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Elsa’s hearts skipped a beat in quick succession as a large grin spread across her face. A similar looking smile soon mirrored hers on Sibella’s face. She wanted to leap up and crow to the world. Instead she reached out with one of her giant mitts and gently wrapped it around her dainty hand. A moment later she could feel her squeeze back. 

They sat there for a long while before eventually returning to the dorms. Elsa assumed it was because their dispositions were so sunny from the realization that if they returned any sooner Grimwood would never be gloomy again. That would have been a dreadful shame. Also, it was just sort of time having the moment together. This was a new development in their relationship and as selfish as it might be, she wanted to keep this thing between the two of them for the moment. Everyone else could find out at the dance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad they've finally settled their personal issues. Last chapter is the dance itself!


	5. Chapter 5

“If you hold still for a minute longer I’ll finish wrapping your wrap,” Sibella promised as she twisted the last of the bandages into place for Tanis. “You look utterly fangtastic!”

“You really think so?” Tanis asked, twirling around in front of the full-length mirror. “I wonder what my mummy would say?”

“Your mummy would say you’re going to be the cutest ghoul at the ball,” Elsa said as she stepped into the bathroom. She grinned at the smile on Tanis’s face.

“Oh no! I’m sorry, but I’ve taken so long how will you two get ready in time?” Tanis asked, glancing at both of the older girls. “Can I help in any way?”

“Just get to the dance on time and have a ball,” Sibella said. “At our age it’s only proper we’re fashionably late for a school function, even if it is a dance.”

“Especially if it’s a dance,” Elsa agreed. “We can use the extra time getting ready. Go on, Tanis, Wednesday, Godziella, and Winnie are already ready when I came up from the common room and I assume the rest of the underclass will be along shortly.”

“If you’re sure…” Tanis said, glancing at the door. 

Elsa nodded encouragingly, which finally got the mummy out the door. Once she was gone Elsa and Sibella both breathed a sigh of relief. Of course they loved Tanis, but she was young and shy enough that any negativity tended to make her wilt. While that was the perfect state for flowers, it wasn’t the best one for young friends.

“I was being serious when I said Tanis would be the cutest ghoul at the dance, but I think you’ll be the most beautiful,” Elsa said, turning to Sibella. She dug into her satchel and pulled out a freshly picked bouquet of flowers. “I know neither of us like flowers, but the purple in this belladonna reminded me so much of your purple tinge I had to pick some for you.”

“They’re perfect!” Sibella cooed, picking up the flowers. “I can wear them in my hair tonight and then use them in a sleeping draught I’m been meaning to brew. Thank you.”

“I didn’t do anything special,” Elsa laughed. “Are you going with that flowing lavender dress you favor?”

“I was planning on something black tonight, but with this deadly nightshade I think I ought to go purple. I think I have a dress in this exact shade. What about you?”

“Ah, well…” Elsa trailed off and scratched the back of her head. “I had been thinking about wearing a green dress that my dad got for me, but maybe I should wear slacks and a tie instead? You know, since we’re going together?”

“Wear what makes you comfortable. You shouldn’t try to change because of me, especially since I like you the way you are. If you wanted to wear a green dress I’d love to see and dance with you in it.”

“Really?”

“Of course!” Sibella leaned in and kissed her cheek, which left them both blushing, but she soldiered on as if this level of physical affection was completely normal for them. Elsa hoped it eventually would be. “Now go change and I’ll meet you downstairs, unless you want help with your makeup.”

“No thanks, I wasn’t planning on wearing any.”

Realizing she had essentially been dismissed, Elsa left the bathroom and strode back to her dorm room. She changed out of the Grimwood school uniform and into the green dress her parents had bought for her right before the term started. It was a fairly simple affair, with little embroidery or other embellishments to it, but Elsa liked it. She still had full range of movement in it and still felt like herself, which was important to her. To complete the outfit she slipped into a pair of sandals and then tromped down the stairs.

When she reached the common room she found it empty. The rest of the girls must have already headed out to the dance. That was fine with her; the less time she had to make chitchat about her appearance, the better. Instead, Elsa got to obsessively check her watch and worry that Sibella had changed her mind about this whole date thing. She’d rather stand here waiting all night for Sibella over watching her dance with Tug for the evening.

“Okay, how do I look?” Sibella asked.

Elsa looked up and her jaw dropped. Sibella was wearing a long form fitting purple dress that perfectly matched the color of the belladonna Elsa had given her. The front of the dress had a low slit that revealed a modest amount of her cleavage. There was a slit up one side of the skirt that went up nearly to her knee and nicely offset the blood red waistband. As for belladonna, Sibella had woven it into a circlet that gently rested on her hair.

“Electrifying,” Elsa breathed. Sibella blushed slightly and ducked her head to hide her face in her hair. Elsa reached out and brushed the hair out of her eyes. “The sight of you could bring someone back to life.”

“Thank you.”

“Of course.” Elsa grinned and offered her an arm, which she accepted. “Shall we head to the dance?”

“We shall.”

Even though they were only a bit late, the dance was already in full swing. The Hex Girls were jamming out on the stage, which thanks to the decorating committee, no longer looked like a small three-foot rise at the end of a gym. If Elsa hadn’t gotten Sibella as a date, she’d be totally happy hanging out listening to them play all evening. Instead, she was excited to join her peers on the dance floor. Of course, there were already quite a lot of people dance; she wasn’t sure, but it looked like Miss Blake danced with Mr. Jones while Phantasma was dancing with two boys at once.

Sibella squeezed her hand and then pulled her onto the dance floor. Now Elsa was a pro at the electric slide, but otherwise she wasn’t much of a dancer. In fact, once Sibella found them a place to boogey, she promptly froze. A little coaxing from her date got Elsa’s hands on Sibella’s waist and hand, as per Miss Grimwood’s dance lessons from junior year, but her feet were still rooted to the ground. She wished the ground would swallow her whole or a stray bolt of lightning would strike her. At least the later option would get her energized and moving.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Sibella whispered as she leaned in and brushed her forehead against her cheek. Her hand on Elsa’s shoulder squeezed encouragingly. “No one’s paying us any attention. If you simply want to sway in place that’s perfectly fine.”

Elsa gulped. “I’ll try not to step on your feet, but you’re welcome to step on mine. I probably won’t even feel it.”

“I’m not worried.” Sibella brushed her hair back and pointed down at her feet before returning her hand to its previous position. “See?”

Elsa looked down to see that Sibella was levitating just above her own clodhoppers. She had to smile at this previously unknown ability. At least this way she didn’t have to worry about stepping on her feet and breaking her toes. When her gaze returned to Sibella’s face she saw that she was still smiling encouragingly at her. So she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to relax.

Before she opened them again she could feel Sibella gently pull on her and she followed. Because of her height Miss Grimwood always made her lead, but it was nice to finally follow someone else’s guidance. After a few steps Elsa really did relax and opened her eyes to see that Sibella was grinning at her as they continued to follow their ingrained movements.

“You’re doing great!” Sibella encouraged.

“Hey, I don’t have to worry about stepping on your feet, so it all works,” Elsa laughed.

That was when she finally started enjoying the dance. Sibella was so soft in her arms and she smelled fangtastic, as she would put it, which left Elsa wanting to bury her face in her hair. The stuck pretty close to their formal training for the first song, but the second one was a little faster and Sibella decided to start throwing in some embellishments. When Sibella spun her out so that they were just hanging on to each other by the tips of their fingers Elsa got a good look at the crowd. People had not only made room for them—one always made room for a Frankenteen—but were actually watching them dance. This time however, she didn’t get nervous and actually pulled her partner back into her.

“Oh Elsa, I wasn’t expecting that,” Sibella chuckled when she bumped into her chest. “Do you want to lead?”

“Only if you want me to.”

“We can switch off as the night goes on.”

Elsa caught movement out of the corner of her eye. When she turned her head she was pleasantly surprised to see Ms. Fleach and Ms. Dinkley dancing together. Ms. Dinkley had the biggest grin Elsa had ever seen on her face as she locked her hands around the back of Ms. Fleach’s neck. Her attention was firmly locked on her dance partner. However, as they slowly spun their partners, Ms. Fleach noticed Elsa’s stare and winked at her before dipping Ms. Dinkley. As Ms. Dinkley shrieked with laughter Elsa snickered and turned her attention back to her own partner.

As the dance ended Tug slid in next to them and attempted to cut in. Elsa held firm, pointedly not allowing him to press his way past her. She was bigger and far stronger, which made his efforts futile. Eventually Tug lost his temper and demanded she step off because it was his turn to dance.

“It’s only your turn, as you put it, if Sibella decides she wants to dance with you,” Elsa snapped. Tug went bright red and might have even growled. Now, she could maybe see what Winnie liked about him—he had a certain charm that attracted werewolves and repelled vampires.

“You already stole my date! You don’t get to deny me dancing too!” Tug snapped.

“You get one dance,” Sibella said, holding up a finger to silence the pair of them. “Tug, my attendance with you was contingent upon you and your cadets paying for the dance. Frankly, that was a dastardly move on your part, but I was willing to abide by your terms for the good of the dance. However, since we funded the dance, that absolved me of my commitments to you and I got to choose who I went with. I chose Elsa.”

“But,” Tug began. Sibella shushed him.

“I don’t have to dance with you at all, but I am courteously consenting to dance with you once tonight. Do you want to dance now or save it?”

“Now please.”

“Very well,” Sibella nodded. She smiled at Elsa. “I’ll catch you later.”

“Okay,” Elsa said as she slowly relinquished her hand. She hated to let her go, especially with Tug, but she wouldn’t impede her choice. That wasn’t her style.

She drifted over to the refreshment table, pointedly not watching them dance together. So far the dance had been wonderful and she refused to let Tug turn it into the nightmare she had been imagining all week. She grabbed a cup of punch and a few pieces of the toadstool fudge then quietly munched them near the Limburger cheese. Elsa planned to have a little of it as well as soon as she finished the fudge.

Of course, food on its own wasn’t enough to distract her from Sibella’s dancing. So she turned to see who else was hanging out by the refreshment table in hopes that she could strike up a conversation. Instead all she could see was Miss Dempsey, who was bristling more than she typically did. Elsa felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise as she prepared for an unpleasant confrontation. Luckily, her teacher’s attention was fully focused on the dancers.

“Dinkley,” Miss Dempsey growled. Elsa could see her teacher’s eyes trained with laser focus on Miss Fleach and Ms. Dinkley, who were still out on the dance floor.

“Yes?” Madelyn piped up from beside the punch bowl. Miss Dempsey whipped around and shot her a confused glare.

“You’re not…” Miss Dempsey trailed off, clearly unable to place the other woman.

“Madelyn Dinkley at your service!” Madelyn said, offering her a hand. Miss Dempsey’s hand twitched slightly. That was all the prompting Madelyn needed to grasp it and pump it heartily. “It’s nice to meet you! Velma’s my older sister and I’ve had quite the experience here at Grimwood!”

“What are you doing here?”

“I think I’m a teacher now? Miss Grimwood asked me to stay on as a substitute until the end of term and she’d rush all the paperwork to make it official. Possibly even until the end of the school year depending on whether or not she can get another German language teacher. Since I don’t know when I’ll be let back into my practitioner grad program, it seemed reasonable to do this for a few weeks, you know?”

As Madelyn explained all of this she continued to shake Miss Dempsey’s hand while she gestured wildly with the other. Miss Dempsey’s jaw hung open slightly as she openly stared at her. Elsa was pretty certain that for the first time in her life Miss Dempsey had been rendered speechless. Eventually she managed to shut her mouth, blink a few times, and regain her composure.

“…You’re very different from your sister,” Miss Dempsey eventually managed.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” Madelyn leaned in close and shot her a conspiratorial grin. Miss Dempsey seemed even more alarmed. “I think it’s because I’m the cool sister.”

Sibella squeezed Elsa’s shoulder, pulling her attention away from the teachers. “Hey, you ready to dance some more?”

“You got rid of Tug after just one dance?” Elsa asked. He hadn’t seemed willing to let them go that easily.

“I had a little help,” Sibella admitted with a giggle. She pointed out onto the dance floor where Winnie had a steely grip on both of Tug’s wrists as they danced. “Winnie always comes through when you need her to.”

“Winnie for the win,” Elsa agreed. She tossed a salute at the dancing pair when she was sure she had their attention. She was delighted Winnie was finally getting the attention that she wanted from Tug, and while perhaps he wasn’t entirely thrilled by it, this did mean he got to understand how Sibella had felt. At least Winnie wasn’t stomping on his feet. Figuring that they had enough of Tug for the evening, Elsa took Sibella’s hand and pulled her onto the dance floor.

They spent the rest of the gala together. Most of it was dancing, but they also spent a fair amount of the time hanging out with their friends and generally having a good time. Elsa couldn’t remember the last time she had had such a sustained emotional high, especially as everything went into overdrive every time she locked eyes with Sibella. Ideally, tonight would never end.

When Miss Grimwood announced that the dance was over she wasn’t ready call it a night. One glance at Sibella and Elsa knew that she felt the same way. So, as the rest of the students filed off to the dorms on their respective school grounds, they slunk away. It was a touch difficult outmaneuvering the teachers, but Madelyn was still distracting the most troublesome one. Elsa didn’t fear the punishments the others would dole out.

They ended up in the garden. The rotting vegetables looked particularly attractive in the moonlight. After looking around a bit they flopped down among the rotting pumpkins behind the wilted corn to look at the stars. However, they didn’t hold Elsa’s attention for long and she soon found herself staring at Sibella instead. She was so beautiful and seemed totally focused on the heavens above. Just about everything she did was impressive to Elsa and she was so lucky to have her in her life, especially now.

“I can feel you thinking at me,” Sibella said, breaking the silence. “What’s up?”

“I’m lucky to be here,” Elsa said.

“Me too,” Sibella agreed.

She rolled onto her side and smiled at Elsa. She grinned back and then suddenly they were kissing. Sibella had previously kissed her cheek, but this was the first time they had ever properly kissed. In fact, this was the first time Elsa had ever kissed anyone. She didn’t know what to do with her hands and lying on her back was not the most comfortable of positions for this activity, but once she found a place for her hands she was able to relax and focus on the experience. Sibella’s lips were just as soft as she had always imagined them to be and they tasted of just a hint of blood.

They were just starting to really enjoy themselves when they heard some crunching and voices. Since they weren’t supposed to be out after curfew, both girls froze in place. The voices got louder as the people neared and Elsa realized it was Ms. Dinkley and Ms. Fleach. Soon the pair was practically on top of the teens, but just stopped short of them. There were only a few cornstalks shielding the girls from the teacher and Elsa had never been so grateful that Mr. Rogers had petitioned the school into allowing a few fresh vegetables to grow in the garden.

“Jinkies, I had so much fun dancing with you tonight,” Ms. Dinkley laughed. “We should do that again some time soon.”

“Absolutely, though maybe next time we can skip the chaperoning portion of the evening,” Ms. Fleach replied. Elsa peered at them through the cornstalks. They were only silhouettes, but she could still make out that the pair had drifted over to the fountain and were leaning against each other. “I know this great zombie club about an hour’s drive away. We could go some Saturday night and kick it up.”

“Did you used to go to this club with Verona?” Ms. Dinkley asked.

“Does that mean you’re unwilling to go?” Ms. Fleach asked.

“No, I’m comfortable enough in our relationship not to feel that petty about your previous one. I’m more worried about their menu and if long pig is part of it.”

“Oh yeah, I don’t know; I never at there. We can eat beforehand.”

“But on the subject of Dempsey, what was she doing talking with my sister? They spent the later half of the dance together and I think she even waltzed with Mads once. This had better not be some overly complex revenge scheme on her part. I can deal with her hating me, but I can’t let her hurt Madelyn.” Ms. Dinkley turned to face Ms. Fleach. “I mean it Marcie, I will end her if she harms her.”

“I think they were genuinely hitting it off, but I will talk with Verona and ensure she’s being sincere,” Ms. Fleach promised. “I don’t want Madelyn hurt any more than you do.”

When the teachers briefly kissed Elsa exchanged a glance with Sibella. Sure, she had been pretty certain Ms. Dinkley and Ms. Fleach were dating, but it was still a little startling to have it confirmed in this way. Plus, she knew neither woman would have done that in front of them. It wasn’t intentional, but she didn’t like being a voyeur, especially when spying on them. From the look on Sibella’s face, she was clearly just as uncomfortable with their current situation.

“Come on, let’s go find my sister so we can go home,” Ms. Dinkley said. She pulled away from Ms. Fleach. “Do you think she’s going to end up spending the rest of the school year here?”

“I hope not. If she’s here past the end of term we’re going to have to clean out the spare bedroom,” Ms. Fleach said. She followed Ms. Dinkley back toward the school buildings. “I want our couch back.”

Once the teachers were out of range Elsa breathed a sigh of relief. Sibella giggled and collapsed on her chest. They enjoyed a few more moments of seclusion before Sibella clambered to her feet and shook her dress out. Elsa followed suit.

“We should probably get back to the dorms before the evening head count,” Sibella said.

“Or we get caught by another set of teachers,” Elsa agreed. “They may not have been happy if they caught us eavesdropping, but Ms. Dinkley and Ms. Fleach definitely would have been the most lenient.”

“Very true.”

With that the pair slowly began headed back toward the Grimwood dormitory. They pointedly chose a different path than the one they had watched their teachers take. As they moseyed along enjoying the night air Elsa felt their hands brush against each other a few times. On the third time she made a point to link their fingers together.

“I know this evening didn’t go quite as planned, but I hope you had a good time,” Elsa said.

“I had a fangtastic time,” Sibella said. “Much better than expected. Excellent first date.”

“Does that mean you’d be interested in going on another one?”

“Definitely.”

“Perfect,” Elsa grinned. She could feel her hearts skip a beat. Really, if she wanted to keep dating Sibella, she’d have to get that checked out because her emotions should not put her hearts out of beat as often as they had been lately. “I can’t wait.”

With that in place the girls carefully snuck back into their dorm building through a window Winnie thoughtfully left open for them. It was fairly common for them to climb up the trellis onto the short roof just outside their third story dorm room whenever they wanted an evening adventure; the hard part was ensuring they didn’t leave muddy footprints anywhere for the staff to find. Luckily enough they had returned just in time for the bed check, which left them with only a minor admonishment over not already being ready for bed. Elsa would gladly take tonight’s relaxed regulations—after all, it wasn’t that often she got to ghoul it up at a gala.

She carefully changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed, but she wasn’t the slightest bit tired yet. She didn’t understand how anyone could think they’d be sleepy after that evening of fun. After almost an hour of tossing and turning Elsa eventually got up again. The others seemed to be asleep in their beds, so she pulled on a robe and crept out of the window. She wasn’t going any farther than the roof; she had mostly come out here so that she wouldn’t disturb the others. Perhaps she’d pull Basil Von Dinkenstein’s journal out of her pocket and do a little light reading into her family origins until she felt sleepy.

“You’re still awake too?” Sibella asked. Elsa stifled a yelp as she grabbed onto the brickwork to keep from sliding off the roof. Sibella’s sudden appearance had badly startled her. “Sorry. I thought you realized I was here.”

“No I didn’t,” Elsa said stiffly.

“Come sit with me?” Sibella asked as she settled on the roof. She patted the shingles next to her invitingly. “I was going to go for a flight, but I’d much rather cuddle with you.”

“How can I resist an offer like that?” Elsa sighed. She dropped down next to Sibella and leaned against the building for support. After a moment’s thought she wrapped an arm around Sibella. “We didn’t do much stargazing earlier. I’d like to do that now.”

“Of course,” Sibella agreed. “I’d like that as well.”

So, with her arm around Sibella and her head pillowed in her hair, Elsa fell asleep watching the night sky. Eventually Sibella joined her in slumber as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of Elsa's little adventure and _Ghouling It up at the Gala_. Thanks so much for reading!


End file.
